A collection of out-of-copyright and rare books from the Cambridge University Library and other world-class institutions that have been digitally scanned, made available online, and reprinted in paperback.
A collection of out-of-copyright and rare books from the Cambridge University Library and other world-class institutions that have been digitally scanned, made available online, and reprinted in paperback.
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The Egyptologist Samuel Birch (1813–85) began to study Chinese at school, and obtained his first post at the British Museum cataloguing Chinese coins. He maintained his interest in Chinese civilisation throughout his life, but also collaborated with C. T. Newton on a catalogue of Greek and Etruscan vases, and with Sir Henry Rawlinson on cuneiform inscriptions, while also specialising in the examination and cataloguing of the Museum's growing collection of Egyptian papyri and other artefacts. Birch describes this two-volume, highly illustrated work on ancient pottery, published in 1858, as filling a perceived need: 'A work has long been required which should embody the general history of the fictile art of the ancients.' Volume 1 covers the composition and techniques of the pottery of ancient Egypt and Assyria, with notes on Jewish Phoenician wares, and begins an examination of the techniques and art of the Greek ceramicists.
Originally issued between 1887 and 1907, this monograph by Sydney Savory Buckman (1860–1929) remains the most comprehensive record of British Aalenian to Lower Bajocian ammonites. Reissued here in two volumes, it features superb, accurately drawn illustrations, with some photography. Buckman's early ideas on biochronological subdivision and zonal succession are presented along with refinements in the supplement based on later research. Exhaustive descriptions of numerous morphospecies are given, many prepared when Buckman resided in Dorset and was thoroughly familiar with the local succession. He observed that it was possible to further subdivide strata beyond the zonal scheme of the day. This work laid the foundations for further writings on natural evolutionary classification and time-rock duality. Unfortunately, the monograph was discontinued before the remaining part concerning the Lower to Upper Bajocian and Lower Bathonian was completed. Nevertheless, it remains essential reading for establishing an understanding of Inferior Oolite ammonites.
This four-volume edition of the letters of Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the 'Queen of the Bluestockings', was edited by her nephew and adopted son Matthew (1762–1831) and published in 1809–13. The daughter of wealthy parents, and well educated in history and languages, at the age of twenty-one she married Edward Montagu, a grandson of the earl of Sandwich whose income derived from northern estates and coal mines, and began to establish a London salon attended by the intellectual cream of British society, including Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Hannah More and Hester Chapone. The letters (and some correspondence from her circle) are arranged chronologically. Volume 1 begins with a short biography, and covers the period from her earliest preserved letter, written in 1732, up to 1741. Her teenage letters to her sister Sarah and her older friend, the duchess of Portland, sparkle with wit and good humour.
When this work was published, its original author had been dead for fifty years. As the title page explains, the work of Joseph Ames (1687–1759) was considerably augmented by William Herbert (1718–95), and then 'greatly enlarged, with copious notes, and illustrated with appropriate engravings' by Thomas Frognall Dibdin (1776–1847), several of whose other works are also reissued in this series. Ames' history of printing, based on his own collection, was published in 1749, as an aid to booksellers in identifying old works (and modern forgeries). Herbert, a printseller and bibliophile, acquired Ames' own interleaved copy of the work and intended to enlarge it, but died having completed only three of six proposed volumes. His working copies then passed to Dibdin, who eventually published this four-volume edition between 1810 and 1819. In Volume 1, the lives of Ames and Herbert are followed by discussions of printers from Caxton onwards.
During the 1890s Elliott Coues (1842–1899), one of America's greatest ornithologists, edited several exploration narratives about the American Northwest, including Lewis and Clark's Travels. Coues tracked down the manuscript journals of two of Lewis and Clark's contemporaries, fur trader Alexander Henry (1765–1814) and geographer David Thompson (1770–1857), employees of the Northwest Company. Coues' abridged and edited version of Henry's text, accompanied by notes that draw heavily on Thompson's scientific records, appeared in 1897 in three volumes. Despite the deep prejudice evident in Henry's writing, Coues judged it a reliable account of his unscrupulous business dealings, and of the harsh realities he observed among many different First Nations peoples. Volume 2 covers 1808–14, when Henry travelled in Saskatchewan and Alberta, crossed the Great Divide, and traded along the Columbia River. This volume also contains Coues' original Volume 3, a comprehensive index of people and places.
The surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728–93) left a famous legacy in the Hunterian Museum of medical specimens now in the Royal College of Surgeons, and in this collection of his writings, edited by James Palmer, with a biography by Drewry Ottley, published between 1835 and 1837. The first four volumes are of text, and the larger Volume 5 contains plates. Hunter had begun his career as a demonstrator in the anatomy classes of his brother William, before qualifying as a surgeon. He regarded surgery as evidence of failure - the mutilation of a patient who could not be cured by other means - and his studies of anatomy and natural history were driven by his belief that it was necessary to understand the normal physiological processes before attempting to cure the abnormal ones. Volume 3 discusses blood and the vascular system, wounds (especially those suffered in war), and infection.
When this work was published, its original author had been dead for fifty years. As the title page explains, the work of Joseph Ames (1687–1759) was considerably augmented by William Herbert (1718–95), and then 'greatly enlarged, with copious notes, and illustrated with appropriate engravings' by Thomas Frognall Dibdin (1776–1847), several of whose other works are also reissued in this series. Ames' history of printing, based on his own collection, was published in 1749, as an aid to booksellers in identifying old works (and modern forgeries). Herbert, a printseller and bibliophile, acquired Ames' own interleaved copy of the work and intended to enlarge it, but died having completed only three of six proposed volumes. His working copies then passed to Dibdin, who eventually published this four-volume edition between 1810 and 1819. Volume 3 considers the lives and work of printers from William Faques to Nicholas Bourman.
Urged by his colleague Edward Forbes, Thomas Wright (1809–84) devoted himself to completing this monograph of the echinoderms ('spiny-skinned animals') of Britain's Oolitic formations. These would be referred to as Middle Jurassic by the modern geologist. This is a notable contribution, describing as it does the echinoderms following a major stratigraphic gap. In the British Isles, apart from some minor occurrences in the Permian and Lower Jurassic, echinoderms are almost entirely absent from the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian), a period we now know to represent 150 million years. Although common and diverse elsewhere during this interval, the British Oolitic echinoderms show many changes from those of the Mississippian. Wright's two-volume monograph includes thorough descriptions and locality details, all supported by beautiful plates. Volume 2, originally published in three parts between 1863 and 1880, considers those most beautiful of invertebrates, the asteroids (starfishes) and ophiuroids (brittle stars) of the Middle Jurassic.
The writer and translator Anne Plumptre (1760–1818) and her sister Annabella, also a writer, divided their time between Norwich and London, where they moved in radical and dissenting circles. Anne also travelled abroad, publishing this three-volume description of three years' residence in France in 1810. (Her 1817 volume on Ireland is also reissued in this series.) Like many other Britons, Plumptre took the opportunity of the Peace of Amiens to visit post-revolutionary France, and she stayed in the country until hostilities recommenced in 1805. Sympathetic to the revolution, she intended to examine for herself the state of the country and its people, and compare her first-hand impressions (especially of Napoleon) with the generally hostile information about France then currently available in Britain. Volume 1 describes her stay in Paris (where she was accidentally locked in the ruins of the Bastille at nightfall), and her journey to Marseilles via Lyons.
Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841) is often called the first truly international British artist. This three-volume biography, published in 1843, two years after Wilkie's sudden death while on a tour of the Mediterranean, and containing extracts from his journals and letters, remains an indispensable source for his life and works. Born in Scotland, Wilkie became a student at the Royal Academy in 1805, and in the following years the uncompromising realism of his scenes from rural life made his name known and attracted royal patronage: he was appointed 'the King's Limner in Scotland' by George IV. This work was compiled by his friend, the poet and critic Allan Cunningham (1784–1842), who himself died shortly after correcting the proofs: it was seen through the press by his son. Volume 3 continues the narrative from 1828, through Wilkie's appointment as the King's Painter in Ordinary in 1830, to his early death.
This edition of the laws promulgated by successive Anglo-Saxon rulers over a period of five centuries was published in three volumes between 1903 and 1916 by the German historian Felix Lieberman (1851–1925), and is still regarded as authoritative. This unique body of early medieval legal writing, unparalleled in other Germanic languages, provides valuable source material for scholars of Old English and of legal history, and Lieberman's thorough engagement with the manuscripts has never been surpassed. Volume 2 contains a dictionary of the Old English, Latin and French words found in the texts in Volume 1. The dictionary is presented in one alphabetical sequence, and is followed by a German glossary of legal terms listing references in the texts, other medieval works and later scholarship. Frederick Attenborough's The Laws of the Early English Kings (1922), providing a modern English translation of early Anglo-Saxon laws, is also reissued in this series.
'Erskine May', like 'Hansard', is a book recognised by its author's name much more readily than by its title; and, also like Hansard, it is closely connected to the work of the British Houses of Parliament. Thomas Erskine May (1815–86), clerk to the House of Commons, began his working life as assistant to the House of Commons librarian, and familiarised himself with constitutional history and parliamentary procedure during a long and distinguished career. This 1844 book describes the workings of Parliament, including its constitution, powers and privileges, practice and proceedings, and private bills. The history and traditions of the institution are examined, and current practice explained in detail. It went into several subsequent editions, and was translated into many languages. Erskine May was also a cautious but efficient reformer, streamlining procedures in order to manage much greater amounts of parliamentary business: his work is still consulted on procedural matters.
This four-volume edition of the letters of Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the 'Queen of the Bluestockings', was edited by her nephew and adopted son Matthew (1762–1831) and published in 1809–13. The daughter of wealthy parents, and well educated in history and languages, at the age of twenty-one she married Edward Montagu, a grandson of the earl of Sandwich whose income derived from northern estates and coal mines, and began to establish a London salon attended by the intellectual cream of British society, including Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Hannah More and Hester Chapone. The letters (and some correspondence from her circle) are arranged chronologically. Volume 3 covers the period from 1744 to 1755, and her correspondents include her sister and two of her cousins, whom she keeps supplied with gossip as well as her views on the political and intellectual life of London.
Charles Roach Smith (1806–90) had a prosperous career as a druggist. His shop was in the City of London, then undergoing major excavation and redevelopment, and he began to collect the artefacts being uncovered around him. With a widening interest in all aspects of the past, Smith began to publish notes on his collection as well as antiquarian observations. (His Illustrations of Roman London is also reissued in this series.) This three-volume work, published 1883–91, reviews his activities as an excavator, collector, and co-founder of the British Archaeological Association. Pen-portraits of fellow enthusiasts and descriptions of ancient buildings and ruins are interspersed with accounts of infighting in the Association, and biting criticism of local and national authorities who refused to take on responsibility for Britain's archaeological heritage. Volume 3, published posthumously, includes Smith's accounts of his later life in Kent, and his antiquarian visits to France.
Urged by his colleague Edward Forbes, Thomas Wright (1809–84) devoted himself to completing this monograph of the echinoderms ('spiny-skinned animals') of Britain's Oolitic formations. These would be referred to as Middle Jurassic by the modern geologist. This is a notable contribution, describing as it does the echinoderms following a major stratigraphic gap. In the British Isles, apart from some minor occurrences in the Permian and Lower Jurassic, echinoderms are almost entirely absent from the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian), a period we now know to represent 150 million years. Although common and diverse elsewhere during this interval, the British Oolitic echinoderms show many changes from those of the Mississippian. Wright's two-volume monograph includes thorough descriptions and locality details, all supported by beautiful plates. Volume 1, originally published in four parts between 1857 and 1861, considers the many and varied echinoids (sea urchins) of the Middle Jurassic.
The subtitle of this eight-volume set is Consisting of Authentic Memoirs and Original Letters of Eminent Persons, and Intended as a Sequel to the 'Literary Anecdotes', which had been published in nine volumes by the author, editor and publisher John Nichols (1745–1826) between 1812 and 1815, and are also reissued in this series. Like its predecessor set, these 'illustrations' are a useful source of biographical material on authors and publishers at a time when many of the literary genres we take for granted, such as the novel, the autobiography and the analytical history, were first being developed. The volumes were published between 1817 and 1858, the project being continued after Nichols' death by his son and grandson. Among the 'eminent persons' included in this final volume is Nichols himself; it also contains material showing the state of the London book trade in the second half of the eighteenth century.
American philologist Edward Robinson (1794–1863) is considered a founding figure in the field of biblical geography and archaeology. In 1838 he explored Palestine with Eli Smith (1801–57), a Yale graduate and Protestant missionary, and co-author of Missionary Researches in Armenia (also reissued in this series). Smith had settled in Beirut and was proficient in Arabic. The authors succeeded in identifying many biblical locations, and the original edition of their book, structured as a travel journal, was published in 1841. It was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society the following year. Robinson and Smith returned to Palestine in 1852 and published an enlarged edition in 1856. This reissue is of the 1857 third edition, which was slightly abridged but contained new maps and plans. Volume 1 includes lively accounts of Cairo, Suez, Mount Sinai and Jerusalem, accompanied by historical background and topographical details.
Charles Roach Smith (1806–90) had a prosperous career as a druggist. His shop was in the City of London, then undergoing major excavation and redevelopment, and he began to collect the artefacts being uncovered around him. With a widening interest in all aspects of the past, Smith began to publish notes on his collection as well as antiquarian observations. (His Illustrations of Roman London is also reissued in this series.) This three-volume work, published 1883–91, reviews his activities as an excavator, collector, and co-founder of the British Archaeological Association. Pen-portraits of fellow enthusiasts and descriptions of ancient buildings and ruins are interspersed with accounts of infighting in the Association, and biting criticism of local and national authorities who refused to take on responsibility for Britain's archaeological heritage. Volume 2 contains anecdotes including an archaeological excavation conducted by Darwin's mentor Henslow on a tumulus in his parish.
The Greek geographer and historian Strabo is known chiefly for this remarkable description of the known world in the early decades of the Roman Empire. The range and importance of the text ensured its copying and distribution in the medieval period, and multiple printed editions appeared later. Reissued here is the version published by the influential French publishing house Didot in 1853 as part of their series of Greek classics. It was prepared by the German classical scholars Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller (1813–94) and Johann Friedrich Dübner (1802–67). Müller's two-volume collection of the writings of lesser-known Greek geographers, Geographi Graeci Minores (1855–61), is also reissued in this series. The full text of Strabo's seventeen books is presented here in Greek with a parallel Latin translation as well as variant readings. Also included are several maps and a substantial index of names and places.
Published between 1862 and 1932, and reissued here in multiple parts, this monumental calendar of documents remains an essential starting point for the serious study of Tudor history. An experienced editor of historical texts, John Sherren Brewer (1809–79) had no prior training in the history of the period, yet he brought to the project the necessary industriousness and an impeccable command of Latin. Four volumes appeared before his death, whereupon James Gairdner (1828–1912), his former assistant, took up the editorial reins. Continuing Brewer's method of ordering chronologically all available documents from 1509 to 1547, and reproducing some passages while paraphrasing or omitting others, Gairdner brought the project to its conclusion, aided himself by R. H. Brodie (1859–1943) in preparing the later volumes. Part 2 of Volume 2 (1864) covers the period from January 1517 to December 1518.